| Work Detail |
Adif AV has awarded three contracts for the design of Alar del Rey – Reinosa rail section, the last one of the Palencia – Santander high-speed rail.
With this project, the high-speed line reaches Cantabria, and which includes the remodelling of the Aguilar de Campoo station.
The contracts cover the design of the 44.4 km double standard-gauge track and a 7 km single track bypass to Aguilar de Campoo which will ensure high-speed connection to Cantabria. Under the project, Aguilar de Campoo station will be modernised and adapted to high-speed services and the increase in passengers.
The high-speed section project consists of three lots. The first one is 14 km long between Alar del Rey and Aguilar de Campoo. The draft design contract was awarded to a joint venture made up by Centro de Estudios de Materiales y Control de Obras, Consultrans and Systra Subterra Ingeniería.
The second section continues the line on a 11.5 km route from Aguilar de Campoo to Mataporquera, including the Aguilar de Campoo bypass and will be drafted by a joint venture of WSP Spain and TRN Táryet. The 18.9 km third section between Mataporquera and Reinosa will be drafted by a joint venture of TPF Getinsa Euroestudios and Geocontrol.
EUR 15.2 million is the total value of the design contracts, which will be followed by the launch of a tender for the construction of the remaining section of the high-speed line which is expected to be worth EUR 800 million.
This last section of Palencia – Santander high-speed rail will run from Alar del Rey, at the end of the five sections currently being built, to Reinosa station, from where it will connect with Santander via the conventional network, which is being renovated and, and in some sections, duplicated. To ensure integration, a gauge changer will be installed in the area around Matamorosa.
Currently, Adif is working on five sections of the high-speed line totalling 78.4 km:
Palencia-Palencia Norte (1.3 km);
Palencia Norte-Amusco (20.8 km);
Amusco-Osorno (21.9 km);
Osorno-Calahorra de Boedo (20.7 km); and
Calahorra de Boedo-Alar del Rey (13.7 km).
Together with the five sections under construction between Palencia and Alar del Rey and design works for the remaining sections, Adif is investing EUR 1.7 billion to boost to the Palencia – Santander high-speed rail to connect Cantabria with the centre and the rest of the country, while reinforcing the reliability and capacity of the infrastructure and reducing travel times.
While the project to bring forward the connection advances, in parallel Adif is also promoting the Nogales connection, which will allow Cantabria’s high-speed connection to be brought forward by three years. This is a 3.2 km link, at the height of the Palencia town of Nogales de Pisuerga, which, once the high-speed route currently under construction is completed, will allow it to be put into service by connecting it with the conventional line to continue along it to the Cantabrian capital, Santander, while the Alar del Rey-Reinosa route is built, for which the project has now been awarded. |
